Maintained smoking cessation for 6 months equilibrates the percentage of sputum CD8+ lymphocyte cells with that of nonsmokers.

Little is known about the longitudinal effects of smoking cessation on sputum inflammatory cells. We aimed to investigate the changes in sputum inflammatory cells and T-lymphocyte subpopulations after 6 and 12 months smoking cessation. Induced sputum was obtained from 68 healthy smokers before and after 6 months (n = 21) and 1 year (n = 14) smoking cessation and from ten healthy never-smokers. Inflammatory cells were identified by morphology and T-lymphocyte subpopulations by flow cytometry. Sputum macrophages were decreased after 12 months of smoking cessation in comparison to baseline, while neutrophils increased. Moreover, CD8+ T-cells were decreased in smokers before smoking cessation compared to never-smokers and increased in smokers after 6 months of smoking cessation in comparison to baseline; result that was maintained after 1 year of smoking cessation. These novel findings indicate that smoking cessation can equilibrate certain inflammatory cells of smokers with those of nonsmokers, within 6 months of smoking cessation.